Tyler Kasak, David Evans, headline Penn State wrestling contingent at Mat Town Open II
The No. 1 Penn State wrestling team goes for its 51st consecutive dual meet victory today. But, it won’t have two possible starters, both at the same weight class, in the lineup against Maryland. The Nittany Lions have registered junior David Evans and freshman Tyler Kasak to compete at Lock Haven’s Mat Town Open II tournament on Sunday. Doing so will likely give both enough matches to qualify for the postseason. And, it will be Kasak’s last event before the program must truly decide whether or not he will burn his redshirt.
The tournament website lists Kasak as the event’s top seed at 149 pounds. Evans is the seven seed, which means they are on opposite sides of the bracket. It could lead to another all Penn State final. The last time the two met at 141 pounds, Kasak beat Evans 2-1 in a tiebreaker period at the Army Black Knight Invitational back in November. One of them will ultimately be the Lions starter at 149 pounds. But, the team is using every possible resource before making that decision.
“That’s a weight class and a decision that we’ve been trying to figure out, and what the right solution there is, to make sure that everyone has a good fair chance?” Lions coach Cael Sanderson said Tuesday. “I mean, those two wrestled earlier in the season, although it was at a lower weight [141 pounds].”
“So that’s something that we have to resolve here quickly,” Sanderson continued. “And then we also need to get our 149 pounder they need to get enough matches to earn; you want to be a contributor and earn an automatic spot for your conference if possible. And then obviously, taking care of all those details. But yeah, that’s something that we got to work out here soon.”
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Other Penn State wrestlers at the Mat Town Open II tournament include:
–174: Brian Borden
–184: Jack Kelly
–184: Josh Barr
–197: Lucas Cochran
–197: AJ Fricchione
Penn State commit Nate Desmond is also registered.
Penn State at Maryland wrestling: Time and TV details
Venue: Xfinity Center Pavillion in College Park, Md.
Start time: Noon ET
TV: Big Ten Network
Streaming: Big Ten Plus (BTN+) is streaming the match for subscribers. Fans can visit bigtenplus.com to learn more about how to watch the match and other Nittany Lion events on the streaming service by signing up for one of the offered plans. Besides web browsers, B1G+ is also available on the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Apple TV, Fire TV, Roku, and XBOX.
Radio: Longtime Lions play-by-play voice Jeff Byers will be on the call starting with the pre-match show at 11:45 a.m. ET. You can listen on Lionvision by clicking here.
